I have a Zombie ball but have never used it in a show particularly because the shells do not nest well and have come apart during practices. What would be the best item to use that's not permanent that would bond those 2 halves so they wont fall apart.
If it wasn't for that I would use it with a fire ending by pulling the halves apart but like I said just knowing those two halves can fall at anytime has kept me from using it at all.
thank you in advance!
Ray

I think you have a Morrissey ball (see my post today on the thread below.) If you truly want to learn and perform a good floating ball routine, get a better ball!

For practice you can apply a think coating of rubber cement carefully around the inner edge, that will hold for a week or two.

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......start=30

Magically, Walt

About a billion years ago I had a Zombie ball that did not nest nearly as well as I would have liked. I think I bought it from Tannen's in about 1980. I put a strip of masking tape around the circumference of the top edge of the ball's lower half. This provided enough friction to hold well and I used it this way until I upgraded to an Ickle-Pickle zombie a few years later (and am still using to this day!).

Your quite right it is a Morrissey product. what zombie ball do you suggest?
nice never thought of the tape or rubber cement worth a shot.
I will look up the ickle-pickle ball thank you Walt and Frank.

Sim Sala Bim!

My vote is for Vernet because it's non-ferris and if you drop it, you won't incur a dent.

Do you mean non-Ferrous? All the zombies are non-ferrous, as they are aluminum. Only metal with iron in it is ferrous.

The whole point behind the zombie ball is that the audience thinks it's a giant ball bearing that floats. To use the Vernet (obviously plastic) or one that you take apart (or falls apart) is to show that audience that it's not heavy.

AT that point.. it might as well be a cheap platic skull, pumpkin, light bulb, bird cage or any number of other things that magicians have tried to turn into zombie balls that don't look heavy.

I'd glue it so that it stayed in place.. but ulitmately, I'd get a viking ball if they're still available... or even one from Owen.. which is a beautiful ball and cheaper than a RingsNThings2 ball...

Sadly, most ALL the balls now have a horrible cheap looking seam.

No, I meant that it didn't have spokes, a lighting system and a toothless guy locking you inside.

That's what I was thinking. Two tickets to ride the Carnival Zombie.

If you're serious, get the Owens or Viking. The seam is not important. If you do it right, you know it's slightly tilted toward the audience and the seam is not visible.

Doug

Interesting. In all my years studying and performing this effect, I have never thought of it that way. Silver just seems to have been the color of choice for so many floating ball routines, but I have never heard of audience member calling it a giant ball bearing. ... It could make for some interesting possibilities in presentation.

Kent

Anyone remember the original? No silver, there.
I wonder if he was thinking " I need a giant ball bearing to float... now where can I find a giant ball bearing that's silver... I know, the toilet"

The Toilet-ball story, is either apocryphal, or simply how he was inspired and had the idea. From the start he publicly performed with a ball that was either painted metallic or metal.

Karson's concept was not a "ball bearing" (that was just an example Michael gave) but it was that it was heavy, being made of some alien-mercurial substance that attracted and created Zombies (and his original "reason" for the cloth was that if the sphere touched him he would be exposed and become a living-dead.

The ball was from inception assumed to be a solid, and by extension, mass of "something" or simply some pseudo-science heavy metal (as some gadget in Frankenstein's lab.) Karson wanted the ball’s mirror surface to reflect green and blue stage lights to make it seem a weird substance.

Think.. what is more magical...
to float a lady (who has weight)
or float a balloon (that is light.)

There is a "fad" style ball that they advertised as "can be passed through the audience for examination." (What a stupid and magic killing thing to do!) That it is hollow is a SECRET, just like a “Losander” that makes no sense if the audience knows the actual, and not the perceived, weight.

Neil Foster (the first zombie “king’) split the ball in half an spring flowers bloomed from both sides, a cheap glitzy dumb finish, to his otherwise fabulously magical routine.

Don't think about the props you buy as what their use is, think about the perception AND maximum effect on your audience!

Magically, Walt

The dream balls from Fab are great. No seam and very light. You may want to install your own grommet for the hookup, the one it comes with does not fit normal gimmicks.

I have always liked this ending. In Foster's hands it looked good ... as though the ball was instantly transformed into two large bouquets of flowers. One thing that I have always wondered about, is how the extra weight of the spring flowers would effect the handling. It would seem to me that the heavier the ball, the more difficult it would be to maneuver.
There is a youtube video of Foster performing in 1983, where he uses a different method to change the ball into a single bouquet. This involves an exchange of balls, and I don't think it looks nearly as good as his original method.

I'm with Walt. I've always hated the flower finish. I can't see how it really adds anything to the effect, it distracts from it. It's the old adage, "just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should." In all the decades I've been performing Zombie I've never, ever had an audience member disappointed that the ball didn't vanish, burn up or transform. In my routine I finish with the ball in one hand, the cloth draped over the arm. It has never failed to get applause. There really is something to be said for simplicity. The lily requires no gilding!

Many years ago I put spring flowers in my Zombie (rehearsal only) just to see what it would be like. It does affect the handling substantially, making it much, much heavier and impossible to control as accurately.

I like to ditch it in my hat, walk forward and tap the cloth a few times and vanish away

The flowers seem like a strange choice

Then there's the point that spring flowers only look like flowers through a magician's eyes...

Right on, Michael and Walt. It's been years since I read his book on Zombie, but I'm pretty sure Al Schneider had similar ideas - the ball must look heavy and it cannot move with the performer (if it does, the audience starts to realize there is a connection between the ball and performer).

Ray, I agree with the others that it's best to find a steel looking ball without a seam.

Ron

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOSkcjrOE7I

The clip is from the Don Alan’s Magic Ranch TV series in the 1960’s it was one of the episodes that was actually broadcast in color and had the Ranch house organ playing the music, which was his signature piece, not the one on this clip.

It was a masterpiece, the only magician who I know who does this presentation is Tim Wright who was extensively trained by Neil, Tim sells a training dvd as well.

I always felt the flower finale was a flaw in the piece and Neil did not always use it later. He does give some weight to the ball, along with a distinct personality which I think is a MUST.

There is a long chapter in my book about variations on the Floating Ball with ideas, presentations, and techniques.
Magically, Walt